Mobile conveyer for concrete



Nov. 18,1947. J. M. LAClVlTA 2,430,937

MOBILE CONVEYER FOR, CONCRETE Filed April 2, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nov. 18, 1947.

J. M. LAClVlTA MOBILE CONVEYER FOR CONCRETE Filed April 2, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 AJ. J2

7 c756 fl. Zac/V/fa Patented Nov. 18, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,430,937. MOBILE CONVEYER Fon CONCRETE John M. Lacivita, Millville, N. J. Application April 2, 1946, Serial N 0. 659,031

. 2 Claims. 1

My invention relates generally to apparatus for receiving particles or material in a pourable semi-fluid state, such as concrete mix, from a source such as a truck or concrete mixer, and conveying the material to a selected point elevated above the source or otherwise out of reach of said source, the primary object of my invention being to provide apparatus of this character which can be readily moved from place to place and adjusted to deliver the material to points of different elevation and/or distance from said source.

Another important object of my invention is to provide apparatus Of the character indicated especially adapted to handle concrete mix for building operations which comprises a readily portable unit comprising a suitable flat bed truck which can be towed or moved under its own power from one job to another or from place to place on the same job as required, the truck bed having rising thereon a suitable framework providing rotary and pivotal support for a boom thereby carried on the truck, along which boom a conveyor bucket is operable by cable operated by a cable drum on the truck, the boom having depending therefrom an adjustable brace frame which can reach the ground to provide support for the overhanging part of the boom.

Another important object of my invention is to provide apparatus of the character indicated above which is unusually simple and lightweight in construction while being amply rugged for the use for which it is intended and capable of bein manufactured at sufiiciently low cost to warrant its general adoption.

Other important objects and advantages of my invention will appear from a reading of the following description and appended drawings, wherein for illustration only a presently preferred embodiment of my invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a general side or end elevation showing said embodiment set up for use in one of its several possible positions.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary transverse section on an enlarged scale taken through the boom, the bucket, and a delivery chute, showing the bucket opening trip lever about to strike the trip bar adjacent to the chute.

Figure 3 is a substantially horizontal section on a similarly enlarged scale taken on the line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary side elevation on an enlarged scale of the lower end of the boom, showing the mounting of the boom on the truck, and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary bottom plan View on an enlarged scale of the upper end of the boom,

showing the disposition of the cable pulleys thereon,

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 6 generally designates the truck upon which the other components of the device of the invention are mounted during their employment and for movement from one place to another, the truck having a fiat bed 1 on which is fastened a tripod or. other suitable frame 8 anchoring and supporting the standard 9 having a tubular upper part having a heavy bearing flange ill on its upper end.

Rotatably telescoped into the standard 9 is a short pipe-like upright I I which has a heavy bearing flange [2 which turnably bears upon the flange 10 so that the upright II can turn in the standard 9.

The upper part of the upright l l carries a heavy cross bar or rod I3 having a head I4 on one end and a nut IE on the other end. The rod traverses the feet l6 on the lower ends of the side members ll of the boom l8. Diagonal braces l9 may be provided between the rod l3 and the upright II.

The boom I8 comprises two outturned channel side members H! which are braced and connected at intervals of their length by bars 28 forming an open lattice, and further braced and connected by bolts or rods 2| located at the level of at least one and permissibly several delivery chutes 22, which when in use extend at desired angles from the back of the boom and are braced by detachable links 23 hooked or bolted to the boom above the chutes.

In use the lower end of the boom l8 may rest upon the ground 24, as shown in Figure 1, and be held in this position by suitable overbalancing means, such as links connected to the truck bed 1.

Additional support for the overhanging part of the boom IS in the illustrated position or in other more tilted positions thereof is provided by the brace frame 25 which is pivotally connected at its upper end to the upper part of the boom at 26 and depends to within reach of the ground 24 at the side of the truck 6. The brace frame has adjustable jack feet 21, preferably operated by handles 28 for engaging the ground.

The upper flanges 29 of the boom side members I9 have secured thereto, as shown in Figure 3, reversed angle irons 30, which with the flanges 29 define channel tracks for the bucket rollers 3|, of which there are two on each end of the bucket 32, one above the other, and mounted on the outer ends of axles 33 which pass through lugs 34 on the boom side of the bucket, With collars 35 fixed on the axles and engaging the inner sides of the lugs to prevent sideworking of the bucket 32.

The bucket 32 is inverted V-shaped, the rear wall 36 carrying the axles 33, with the front wall 31 having at its lower end the fixed trip lever 38 3 which has a part 39 extending between the boom side members I9 at right angles thereto and terminating in a finger 40 arranged to operatively engage under any one of the trip bars-2| on the boom |8 as the bucket travels up along'the boom.

Suitably angulated plates 4| on the boom side members, between which the bucket can pass, are provided on the boom side members at each chute 22 to act in conjunction with the bucket 32 to guide the material from the bucket into theadjacent end of th chute when the bottom of the bucket is opened.

The bottom of the bucket is constituted by a pair of bent plate-like elements 42 which are hinged at 43 on the outside of the front and back of the .bucket and which when together provide an impervious closure holding the contents of the bucket in place, as shown in Figure 2.

Lugs 44 on the lower part of the elements 42 carry pivots 45 on which are connected the lower ends of levers 46 which are pivoted together at their upper ends and connected to the lower end of a contractile spring 18 fastened at its upper end at 49 to the end of the bucket, whereby the bucket'bottom forming elements 42 are normally closed.

Th bucket 32 is operated along the boom IS in either direction by the cable 59 attached at 5| to the back of the bucket and running upwardly midway between the side members l9 and over pulleys 52 and 53 supported in framework 54 on the upper end of the boom, and brought thence downwardly between the side members l9 and over a guide 55 onto a cable drum 56 anchored on th truck bed 1. The cable drum 56 may be driven in any suitable manner to raise and lower the'bucket32 along the boom l8.

In operation, the bucket 32 being at or close to the lower end of the boom and having been filled with concrete directly from a concrete mixer or the like, the cable drum 5B is operated to raise the bucket to the level of the selected delivery chute 22, adjacent to which the necessary trip rod 2| has been arranged. The progress upwardly-of the bucket is thereat arrested or somewhat slowed down and then moved again upwardly a sufiicient amount to cause the trip finger 40 to engage the trip rod 2| and open the bucket bottom forming elements '42 of the bucket and discharge the contents into the chute 22, for delivery to the concrete form or the like into which the remote end of the chute has been directed.

When the bucket 32 has been thus emptied the cable drum is operated to lower the bucket along the beam, and as SOOn as the trip finger 40 disengages from the trip rod 2| the springs 48 close the bucket bottom.

It will be understood that in directing the chute 22 to the desired place of delivery of the concrete the beam can be pivoted on the horizontal axis of the rod 13 and on the vertical axis of the standard 9, so that the chute can be quickly and exactly placed.

I claim:

1. Mobile apparatus for receiving pourable material at a'point close to the ground and delivering the material to a second point removed by distance from the first point, said apparatus comprising atruck including a body, a standard rising from said body, a boom mounted intermediate its-ends on said standard for pivoting relative to said standard on vertical and horizontal axes, from a position in which one end of the boom can reach the ground at a desired side of the truck while the other end of the boom rises above an :opposite side of the truck'to a maximum elevation to other positions in which the lower end of the boom is elevated above the ground, said boom comprising at least one wheel track extending therealong, a bucket having at least one wheel rollably engaging said track, a cable connected to the bucket, sheave means on the upper part of the boom over which the cable is trained, a cable drum on the truck for operating the cable to raise and lower the bucket, elements forming an openable bottom on the bucket including a trip lever, a trip rod on the boom engageable by said trip lever as the bucket rises along the chute, and a declining delivery chute on the underside of the boom adjacent to the trip rod for conveying the contents of the bucket to the desired place as the bucket bottom opens, and a brace member depending from the upper part of the boom for engaging the ground at said opposite side of the truck for supporting the boom at the selected angle.

2. Mobile apparatus of the character described, comprising a wheeled platform, a standard rising therefrom, an inclined boom pivoted intermediate on said standard for movement on horizontal and vertical axes, said boom comprising a pair of laterally spaced lattice connected side members each comprising a wheel track, a bucket having wheels on its opposite ends rollably engaging the wheel tracks to suspend the bucket between said side members; said bucket comprising an openable bottom including a bottom operating trip lever, a cable drum on said platform having a cable wound thereon, a sheave at the upper end of the boom over which the cable is trained from said drum and attached to said bucket whereby the bucket can be raised and lowered along the boom, a declining delivery adjustable chute on the boom extending from the back thereof to the place of delivery of the contents of the bucket, a trip rod on the boom adjacent to said chute to be operatively engaged by said trip lever as the bucket rises to th region of the chute so as to open the bucket bottom and discharge the contents thereof into the chute, said openable bucket bottom comprising a pair of elements hinged on the opposite sides of the bucket and on one of which said trip lever is mounted, a pair of levers pivoted at their lower ends to said elements and pivoted together at their upper ends, anda contractile spring stretched between the upper ends of the levers and an elevated part of an end of the bucket whereby the said bottom forming elements are forcibly closed whenever said trip lever is disengaged from said trip rod.

JOHN M. LACIVITA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 592,650 Kendall Oct. 26, 1897 854,920 Allen May 28, 1907 892,914 Sweeney July 7, 1908 2,196,634 Kuert Apr. 9, 1940 2,333,042 Richardson Oct. 26, 1943 

